Holiday traditions, especially those handed down from one generation to the next, can feel as though they are set in stone. Putting up the same decorations every year, cooking the same recipes and listening to the same music can reinforce that feeling. But traditions are always shifting – sometimes subtly, sometimes seismically – with the regular events of life. We cannot know, as we box up the decorations at the end of the holiday season, what changes will be wrought when we unpack them at the beginning of next.
New baby
That was certainly the case for Nat Randall who, during last year’s holiday season, was pregnant with her first child, a son she and her husband, Ben, would name Luke.
“Luke was born prematurely at 31 weeks and a few days…” Randall – who unexpectedly suffered from preeclampsia and high blood pressure – recalled. “I was hospitalized for eight days. Luke was in the NICU for seven weeks… He was on a CPAP machine and feeding tube. Luke’s birth weight was three pounds and eight ounces.”
But despite those early challenges, Luke thrived, eventually moving with his parents to a new home in Sublimity, where they are now excited to celebrate their first holiday season as a family of three.
“[I’m looking forward to] introducing Luke to the magic of Christmas,” Nat confirmed. “How people light up their houses for Santa’s arrival on Christmas Eve. How beautiful the season of giving truly is.”
New Home
Similarly, the Bradshaw family, Laura and Jason, also welcomed a new baby, Elliot, and subsequently moved into a new home in Gates.
“We moved into our new home when our baby turned seven months,” Laura said, “which is good timing as he started crawling, and we have so much more room for him to play.”
The family also has more room to decorate for the holidays, which they haven’t done in several years.
“I’m so excited to see our little guy’s reaction,” Laura said. “Everything I’m doing to decorate, is for him. Even though he may not remember much, it’ll be very memorable for us. I’m baking cookies for the first time in a few years, too!”
New family
But not all new additions are infants, sometimes weddings bring families together in an equally monumental way. Such is the case for Jessica Spence and her soon-to-be husband, Thomas Ostrander, who will collectively merge five children when they wed this year.
“I am most excited to have all the firsts as a married family…” Jessica said. She just moved with her new blended family into a new house, said. “I am so excited to decorate for Christmas and make it our home… Having a blended family is one of the best things I’ve done.”
Widowhood
But not all changes are good ones or come from a choice we have made.
That is the case for Poppy Shell – who unexpectedly lost her husband, David, in February, and is now facing the holidays alone for the first time in 48 years.
“The holidays for the big Shell family was a time to gather as many of our relatives that could come together…” Poppy said of Christmases past. “There were five Silverton-born children…and these five created 12 grandkids. Add in some aunts, cousins, in-laws, friends, sometimes an exchange student and sweethearts, it becomes a very big and noisy and rambunctious group. Our large Christmas gatherings were all about sharing meals, playing board games and opening a lot of presents.”
Now, without David joyfully playing with the young grandkids and helping to prepare for the big holiday celebrations, Poppy speculates that, despite everyone’s best efforts, the holidays won’t be quite the same for the family or for her.
“[T]his is the first time in my life I’ve lived alone, so not just the holiday season is a new experience for me…” Poppy confirmed, “the quiet of home is daunting. I’m so glad I still have little ones to spend time with…”
Multiple family losses
Similarly, Christina McDonald will also be spending the holidays without her husband, Derek, who died unexpectedly in August or her mom who passed away in March.
“Christmas was just our own family…pretty laid back…” Christina – mom to four children, three still at home – said. “At this point I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like this year…I haven’t let myself think about it yet… because this one’s hard.”
A regular attendee of GriefShare, a support group offered at Foothills Church in Stayton, Christina is hoping to learn tips that might help her and her children get through the coming months.
“I want to keep things the same, but I know it’s not going to happen…” she said.
“You just have to figure out new traditions and what you hold on to.”
Loss of Parents and Home
Sometimes life changes so much that almost none of the previous customs are possible.
“The holidays were magical in the 90’s…” Aleashia Dimich said, recalling her own childhood spent in Mill City. “We got our Christmas tree from Kirsch’s True Value every year and… couldn’t wait to see the lights on the bridge lit up…”
Raising her own children near her childhood home, Aleashia enjoyed sharing these traditions with them until, in the Beachie Creek Fire of 2020, her home burned to the ground.
“We started over completely…” Aleashia said. “The only thing left in Mill City for us was mom and dad.”
Then in June 2025, only 12 days apart, both her parents passed, leaving Aleashia and her sisters unsure of what the coming holiday season would bring.
“My only plan is to make sure that my sisters and I are together along with our families we have made…” Aleashia said. “[W]e will not go to Mill City, which seems so wrong, but we will celebrate and we will miss them together. I do not foresee that changing.”
But it will refocus her family’s traditions, homing in on what is truly important in a way not dissimilar to what will be experienced by all those whose lives have changed during the past year. Because, while not all Christmas firsts are for joyous reasons, they do all have the potential to create a new and unique bond between those who celebrate them – and some new traditions as well.
